


Tides

by MusicalLuna



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Flirting, Fluff, King Tony Stark, Kissing, M/M, Mermaid Tony Stark, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Palace Guard Steve Rogers, Romance, Secret Relationship, first I love yous, mermaid Steve Rogers, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-10-14 02:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: Steve and Tony sneak off to a secret cove to spend time together.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pensversusswords](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensversusswords/gifts).



> i wanted to write something for pensversusswords to cheer her up and she asked for fluffy mermaid au
> 
> hopefully this is fluffy enough, despite all the stuff that crept in xD

Sunlight glints off the surface of the water the way it does off the scales of the schools of fish that flit by under the surface.

Steve peeks out over the waves, checking in every direction for indication of lurking predators or signs of humanity, but this isle is one of the few places where it’s still rare to spot a human. Most of the land meets the water in sheer cliff faces, but there’s a small cove that lines up with the setting sun where fine white sand fades into steep jungle. To one side water flows down the cliff face under winding strands of ivy. Colorful birds are frequently visible there tipping their heads back after filling their beaks with water.

It’s a special place, made all the more special by the fact that it’s where Steve spends his time with Tony.

The sky overhead is a pure, solid blue, broken only by the blinding circle of the sun. Steve makes his way to the beach and swims into the shallows, where the water turns to a beautiful electric blue. When he can’t swim any farther, he uses his arms to pull himself up onto the sand, just far enough so that the water’s edge laps at where his scales fade to skin. He stretches out, long as he can, and savors the heat of the sand against his back.

“Now that’s a sight I’ll never get sick of,” a voice purrs and Steve pushes up onto his elbows.

“Tony,” he says, a smile slipping across his face.

Tony grins at him from the shallows. “Hey there, Sunshine.” The nickname (endearment when Steve’s brave enough to call it what it really is) never fails to make Steve flush, his skin turning pink, his dark blue scales shifting to a dark purple. Tony pauses to tug off the crown of coral nestled in his dark hair and tosses it aside on the beach before using his arms the way Steve had to pull himself up onto the beach, seawater sluicing down his shoulders. Steve stares.

He always stares.

Tony’s tail is a dark maroon that fades to red in narrow bands along his sides, gold scales scattered over it like stars, the underside a pale, nearly white gold. The tips of his tail fin are long and flowing, gossamer, and Steve never ceases to be amazed by his beauty. His own tail is more like the porpoises, powerful and muscular, but plain.

Locking his elbows, Tony looms over him, his dark eyes bright as they trail over Steve’s body, his wet eyelashes sticking in clumps like starfish arms. “God, it’s good to see you,” he murmurs, and the way he says it, like it’s the truest thing he’s ever uttered, tells Steve the weeks since they saw one another last have been difficult for him.

Steve rinses the sand from his hand and then lifts it to curl around the back of Tony’s neck, pushing up with the other so he can press a kiss to his lips.

Tony leans into him, makes a soft throaty noise and kisses back fervently, like he’s starving for it. His fingers run over Steve’s jaw, his cheekbones, the tendons in his neck, his clever fingers setting Steve’s heart racing. “I missed you,” he mumbles into the fourth or fifth, “I missed you, I missed you, _god_.”

Steve cups his face in his hands. “I missed you, too. You’re worked up, what happened?”

“Nothing,” Tony lies, kissing the corner of Steve’s mouth. “I don’t want to talk about it. I want to hear about you, what’s going on with you?” He presses Steve back into the sand and lies down on his stomach up against Steve’s side, chin propped up on Steve’s chest. His goatee tickles. “Rhodey says Sam said Bucky’s doing better since the Kraken thing?”

Steve knows better than to press. He runs his thumb over Tony’s lips, his knuckles up Tony’s cheek. “Yeah, he’s finally healed up. He’s still jumpy, but he’s doing better. He’s frustrated. Can’t move the way he used to, hasn’t figured out how to do a lot of things for himself yet.”

“Yeah, that’s…” Tony shivers. “I can’t imagine losing one of my arms.”

“You’re strong-willed,” Steve says. “You’d get by.” He kisses the underside of Tony’s chin and catches him grinning. “Buck is too. He’ll be okay. Two limbs are more than enough for him to wreak havoc with.”

Tony laughs, his dark eyes gleaming. “From what you’ve told me, I don’t doubt that. Do you think you’ve got Kraken on the run?”

Steve shakes his head, fingers running back and forth over the smooth scales at Tony’s waist. “I’m starting to think there are more of them than we originally thought. We keep hearing rumors of somebody they call Red Skull.” He licks his lips, hesitating before he says the next part because he’s not sure how Tony will react and he doesn’t want to spoil the little time they have together. “Rumors of other things, too.”

“Oh, yeah?” Tony says, curiosity spreading across his face. “Like what?”

“Treason,” Steve says, voice dipping low even though he knows they’re the only ones out here. “Word around the reef is that someone aims to kidnap you, or worse. That the Ten Rings could be involved.”

He expects maybe anger or fear, but Tony just rolls his eyes and pushes up onto his elbows to kiss Steve’s mouth. “People always want to kidnap me or worse, honey, I’m king, that’s nothing new. I know you’re part of the palace guard and all so it’s kind of your job, but try not to worry about me. Tony laughs. “Unless somebody like Obie decides to stab me in the back, I’m the safest guy in the seven seas.”

Steve decides it’s not worth it to tell Tony that’s exactly what he’s worried about. There’s just…something about Obadiah that makes his skin crawl.

“I wish we could see each other more,” Steve says and regrets it immediately for the way it makes Tony’s face fall. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

Tony runs his fingers through the drying hair around Steve’s face. “No, don’t do that. You feel the way you feel, it’s fine.” He sighs and admits, “I want that, too. It sucks. I want to go back to my chambers and find this—” He rakes his eyes appreciatively down Steve’s body. “—waiting for me. I want to wake up in the morning and get a kiss.”

And he kisses Steve, as if to prove his point.

His mouth is hot and slick, his skin slippery with sweat and Steve curls his hands around his ribcage, holding him there. Steve still has difficulty breathing with his lungs and kissing, so he rolls them into the shallows where he can breathe with the gills between his lower ribs. It has the bonus effect of making Tony giggle into his mouth.

“God, you are so un-smooth,” Tony says, grinning and tugs at Steve’s lower lip with his teeth. “I love you.”

Steve’s breath catches and he freezes, watching the way shock and embarrassment and nerves flit across Tony’s face. His fingers tap a nervous tattoo on Steve’s bicep.

“I didn’t, um. That’s…”

“I love you, too,” Steve breathes and the way joy blooms over Tony’s face like an anemone unfurling is incredible.

“Even—even though I make you meet me at a secret secluded location and act like I don’t know you in public?”

“I think I’d love you even if all I got was the second part,” Steve admits.

Tony’s tail flutters, a blush creeping from the center of his dark, olive-hued chest into his face. “I treat you like a stranger.”

“Yeah,” Steve says, affection thick in his voice. “I’m pretty gone over you.”

“God,” Tony says, eyes wide and marveling. “Fuck Obie and his weird obsession with getting me hitched to Namor. I don’t care what he thinks. I don’t want to hide this anymore. I _especially_ don’t want to see the way other people hit on you, even when you’re _working_ , which is gross by the way, who does that.” Then, running his hands down Steve’s back he murmurs again, like he’s trying it out, “I love you, Sunshine.”

Steve grins so wide it feels like his face will break and the endearment feels more appropriate than ever—he feels like he’s glowing. “So I can tell my friends where I keep disappearing to?”

“We’ll tell them together,” Tony says decisively. “I want to meet them. I know everything about them, I should meet them.” He falters. “I mean. If you want to.”

“Yes,” Steve breathes and curls his tail around Tony’s, leaning their foreheads against one another. “God, yes, Tony. I want them to know you the way I know you.”

“Not all the ways you know me, I hope,” Tony says and waggles his eyebrows.

Steve laughs and kisses him deeply, until they’re both breathless, blanketing Tony’s body with his own. “Nearly all the ways then.”

Tony smiles against his mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> idk man. tony gets kidnapped by the ten rings because obie (obvs) something with the kraken aka hydra and tony busts out of where he’s been kidnapped to while steve kicks red skull ass (tail?) and they are reunited and live happily ever after?????


End file.
